Reconditioning old books and ledgers



June 28, 1938. M. R. HULTMAN 2,121,800

' RECONDITIONING OLD BOOKS AND LEDG'ERS Filed March 14,- 1936 Wayward/7 flax/2777a ATTORNEY Patented June 28, 1938 'RECONDITIONING OLDBOOKS AND LEDGEBS Maynard It. Hultman, Pittsburgh, Pa.

Application March 14,

1 Claim.

This invention relates to the reconditioning of old books and ledgers, particularly public records such as deed books and the like which are consulted constantly and as a result of frequent f folding break near the back. These heavy books must be rebound when such signs of wear appear so that they may again be handled'through a long period of time. 7 I

It is customary to trim the old pages and attach new binding strips to the trimmed edges for renewing the folded edges of these books. Such binding strips when bound together by sewing or binder posts or rings add new material in the binding edge of the book thereby strengthening the volume so that each page will fold or bend in the new strip and thus relieve the frail old pages of strain. v In a heavy public record such as a deed book the pages are not only subjected to folding strain in the binding but also to an additional shearing stress produced by a tendency of the page to be forcibly swiveled as the reader grasps the page at the corner to open it or to turn it. As a result of this torsional strain paper binding strips deteriorate in a much shorter time than'should be expected- Cloth binding strips due to their limpness will withstand about five times the abuse paper binding strips will Withstand, but cloth is expensive and in practice has been found to take longer to apply than paper.

Therefore, it is an object of this invention to increase the life and reduce the expense and time required to recondition old volumes, and to this end the invention employs paper binding strips for the last pages of the book and cloth binding strips for the first thirty to fifty pages for these pages are opened wider and receive more abuse than the rest ofthe pages.

It is highly desirable that the reconditioned v0 ume have no greater thickness than the original volume. If all of the binding stripsare ofthesame Width increased thickness results at the junctures between the book pages and the cloth or paper binding strips. Where all of the pages are skived the reconditioned volume will have requisite thinness but skiving is time consuming. Sometimes a long page alternating witha short page, Without any skiving, is used, but here again the thickness of the volume is'increased to an undesirable ing strips, and a stronger and longer lived bind-- 1936,Serial No. 68,953 (01. 281-21) ingwill be produced, both of these advantages being attained at reduced cost and at minimum expenditure of time to recondition an old" book.

To attain these ends the invention contemplates the use of alternate long and short pages, one of which is skived, and binding strips of different Widths corresponding to the length of their associated pages.

With the above and other objects in view the invention consists of certain'novel details of construction and combinations of parts hereinafter fully described and claimed, it being understood that various modifications may be resorted to Figure 1 is a plan view of a book page equipped with a fabric bindingstrip in accordance with Within the scope of the appended claim without 7 the invention and showing the binding strip prior to folding. Figure 2 is an edge view of the page and binding strip shown in Figure 1, drawn to enlarged scale. g

Figure 3 is a plan view of a book page shorter than the page shown in Figure 1 and having a skived rear edge to which is secured a fabric binding strip of greater width than the binding strip shown'in Figure 1.

Figure 4 is an edge View of the page and binding strip shown in Figure 3, drawn to enlarged scale.

Figure 5 is an enlarged detail cross sectional View showing alternate long and short pages, such as illustrated in the previous figures, assembled with their binding strips folded, and showing several pages having fabric binding strips and the remainder having paper binding strips in accordance with the invention.

Referring now to the drawing in which like characters of reference designate similar parts in the various views, I!) indicates a page of a book to be reconditioned. The back or rear edge of the page is trimmed ofi evenly and a fabric binding strip ll is lapped at one longitudinal edge on the page and pasted securely thereto at the lap. The binding strip is adapted to be folded 1ongi-. tudinally upon itself as indicated by the scored line l2. The fabric may be muslin, linen, ging ham, percale, or other limp fibrous material which has the capacity to not only resist folding indefi nitely, but also to stand up indefinitely under torsional strains such as the pages of a book are subjected to.

In Figure 3 there is shown a page 13 of the book to be reconditioned, this page preferably being the next page in numerical order to the page shown in Figure 1. The page i3 is trimmed at the back edge to be shorter in length than the page H! and is skived at the back edge as shown at M in Figure 4. A fabric binding strip [5 preferably of the same material as the binding strip I l but not necessarily so, is pasted at one longitudinal edge to the skived edge of the page 13. The fabric binding strip l 5 is of greater width than the fabric binding strip II and is folded upon itself along the scored line [5. The scored lines l2 and I6 coincide when the pages are stacked preparatory to binding by sewing or otherwise, as best shown in Figure 5, By virtue of the page I3 being shorter than the page it,

the back edge of the page will not underlie the back edge of the page H! but will be spaced considerably forwardly of the latter. a

The fabric strip of the page If! may be folded back until its free longitudinal edge I? approximately abuts the rear edge of the page iii. The fabric strip I5 of the page I3 is folded back upon itself .so that its longitudinal edge l8 approximately abuts the rear edge of the next underlying long page I0, as best shown in Figure 5.

It will be pointed out that in practice about a quarter of an inch space exists between the skived edge of a short page l3 and the rear edge of a long page l0 and this space accommodates an accumulation of the fabric strip as shown also in Figure 5. a

In further carrying out the invention the first thirty five to fifty pages of the book are provided with fabric binding strips constructed as above described. The following pages to the end of the book are provided with paper binding strips constructed identically and applied identically as above described. No numerals have been given to the paper binding strips in Figure 5, the difference in cross hatching the fabric and paper being relied upon to differentiate one structure from the other.

The purpose of equipping the first pages of the book with fabric binding strips is to increase the life of the reconditioned book since fabric due to its limpness will withstand about .flve times the abuse that the paper binding strips will withstand and hence fabric binding strips are employed for the initial pages of the book for these pages are opened wider and receive more abuse than the rest of the pages.

By virtue of the junctures of alternate long and short pages with their associated binding strips, being disposed out of alignment with each other and one of the pages being skived, the thickness of the reconditioned book at the junctures of the binding strips with the pages will not be increased, assuming of course that the thickness of the binding strip, whether fabric or paper, is about one half the thickness of the book page.

By skiving only one half the pages the time consumed in reconditioning a book is materially shortened. By using a number of fabric binding strips for the pages subjected to the most abuse the long life of the book will be greatly promoted over books'bound with paper binding strips only.

Finally an old book reconstructed as above described may be handled freely without appreciable deterioration for longer periods of time and under more severe conditions of service than hitherto possible.

From the above description it is thought that the construction and operation of the invention will be fully understood Without further explanation.

What is claimed'is;

A reconditioned book having alternate long and short pages, the rear edges of the long pages being trimmed, the rear edges of the short pages being skived, binding strips of one-half the thickness of the pages secured to the trimmed rear edges of the pages by overlapping, and binding strips of one-half the thickness of the pages secured to the skived rear edges of the pages, the overlapped and skived seams being arranged in staggered relation, all of the binding strips being folded back upon themselves, the bights of the folds being in alignment, all of the binding strips having their free edges disposed in close proximity to the trimmed rear edges of the pages.

MAYNARD R. HULTMAN. 

